Posts Categorized: Current thinking

An enforcement notice requiring the cessation of the use of a dwelling in east London as a house in multiple occupation has been quashed, in light of legislation aimed at the reduction of homelessness (DCS Number 400-021-089).

Last spring the chief executive of the Planning Inspectorate explained that a large part of the reason for the delay in the handling of planning appeals was “the unexpected receipt of more than 1000 prior approval appeals for phone kiosks”. Here on the Blog we remarked that the interest in phone kiosks arises largely from their function as structures for the display of advertisements, and we suggested a solution to the problem (Whatever happened to ….)

Setting aside such musing, readers will be aware that Paragraph 145 of the NPPF states that “A local planning authority should regard the construction of new buildings as inappropriate in the Green Belt.” Exceptions to this include, at 145 e), “limited infilling in villages”. In a recent appeal against the refusal of planning permission for four houses amongst a group of dwellings in Staffordshire, however, the main parties disputed whether the group was a village or a hamlet (DCS Number 400-020-890).

Lest readers conclude that the DCP Blog’s new year resolution to be cheerfully optimistic about the future of town planning in a difficult political context didn’t last five minutes, we ought to make clear that this Blog is about an actual road to nowhere. In a recent appeal case the creation of an access road to a potential housing site in Bedfordshire was granted planning permission despite the council’s objection on the grounds of prematurity (DCS Number 400-020-519).

Perhaps one of the most notable changes which has occurred in society in modern times is the erosion of class divisions, and a recent appeal case offers some insight into how our environment has been deployed to drive this change (DCS Number 200-008-064).

A proposal for 16 residential park homes on the edge of a village in Oxfordshire was dismissed at appeal in the absence of affordable housing provision, despite the appellant’s argument that the homes would themselves be affordable (DCS Number 400-020-174).

An appellant seeking to establish that the unfettered residential occupancy of a barn conversion in the Lake District would be lawful was disappointed when an inspector decided that the term ‘locality’ in a restrictive condition was precise and enforceable (DCS Number 400-020-182).

The conventional planning view has been that low levels of car ownership can be expected amongst elderly people, and accordingly, parking requirements at retirement housing need only be minimal. Perhaps this view is becoming a little outdated, as an inspector determining an appeal against the refusal of planning permission for sheltered retirement apartments in Essex points out (DCS Number 400-019-603):

An inspector determining an appeal relating to a 49-storey mixed use building in east London (DCS Number 200-007-957) has reported that “At the site visit, virtual reality goggles allowed me to ‘see’ the proposed building in its future surroundings.”

An inspector determining an appeal against the refusal of outline planning permission for four dwellings in rural Hampshire has distinguished between housing demand and housing need (DCS Number 200-007-965).

Local plan policy allowed for small scale residential proposals of a scale and type that met a locally agreed need, the inspector recorded. The appellants argued that ‘demand’ for housing is synonymous with ‘need’.

A "net health gain" principle should be embedded in national planning policy to ensure that new developments do not contribute to the problem of air pollution, a report by government agency Public Health England has recommended.

The government's Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS), which sets the policy framework for the expansion of Heathrow airport, should be "set aside and reconsidered" if it is found to be legally flawed, the High Court has been told on the first day of a legal challenge against the airport's expansion.

Plans have been approved for 1,500 homes on an employment site in Salford Quays, including a tower of up to 46 storeys, after officers concluded the development would not compromise neighbouring employment uses.

Plans have been approved for a mixed-use scheme with over 1,100 homes on a site currently used as a retail park off London's Old Kent Road, after planners concluded that the scheme's negative impacts, including the loss of retail space, would be compensated for by "major regeneration benefits".

The government has said it will "robustly defend" itself against a legal challenge which is seeking to have the approval for the expansion of Heathrow airport sent back to Parliament for reconsideration, as the case opens at the High Court today.

The High Court has upheld an inspector's ruling that the size of an area of hard-standing at a fencing company's yard in Surrey was so far in excess of what was required by a building on the site as to render it not ancillary to the building.